We sponsor terror: ex-judge

Australia was among the Western powers to have financially
backed terrorist regimes, and its tough new sedition laws leant
towards autocracy, former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld said
last night.

In an address on the war on terror and civil liberties at the
University of Western Sydney, Mr Einfeld said there was plenty of
evidence that sponsors of state terrorism, such as Iraq, Iran,
Syria, Libya, Peru and Guatemala had been backed and financed by
Western powers, including Australia.

Mr Einfeld said: "What very few people know or understand, even
though the evidence is plain and plentiful, is that many of these
countries have been backed and financed by the US and other Western
powers, including Australia, whose own very personal contribution
to terrorist regimes via the Australian Wheat Board is now believed
by every taxi driver in the country to have been known to and at
least facility-approved by our Government.

"Apparently political transparency is a democratic ideal to
which we only pay lip service these days.

"What makes this brazen corruption all the worse is the
incapacity of these powers to apologise . . . Instead we, the
Australian public, are treated to wanton attacks on the cultural
framework of our fellow citizens - both Muslim and Christian."

Mr Einfeld said the Cronulla riots were the result of a veil of
misinformation and apathy, wrought by the cultural polarisation
that had infected the world since September 11.

He said terrorism was an age-old phenomenon that was to be
condemned in all its guises, and that too often went
unpunished.

At the same time, he said, we have to ask how far we can allow
ourselves to be led away from fundamental liberal and democratic
tenets in the name of the fight against terrorism.

The anti-terrorism bill - in particular its anti-sedition laws -
was, "a Pandora's box of possible abuses if used incorrectly".

He added: "This is the hallmark of a society leaning towards an
autocratic framework, one in which nationalism, homogeneity and a
warped and misinformed concept of 'the other' are thrown together
into a heady and volatile cocktail."